Connecticut union officials, the Working Families Party and an assortment of other advocacy groups have coalesced to launch a new coalition urging the creation of a statewide public retirement plan.

The coalition, dubbed “Retirement for All CT,” debuted at a press conference Tuesday in Hartford. The push for a Connecticut public retirement option is animated by President Obama’s memorandum directing his treasury secretary to establish an individual retirement account called MyRA.

“Every worker, whether you are in the public or the private sector, union or non-union, deserves to retire with dignity,” Sal Luciano, Executive Director of Council 4 AFSCME, said in a press release. “By creating a public retirement plan, Connecticut would … become a national model in providing workers a secure retirement.”

Roughly 740,000 Connecticut residents go without an employer-provided retirement plan, according to a 2013 study conducted by the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis.

State Senate Majority Leader Martin Looney introduced the Retirement for All bill in 2013. The fledging coalition is advocating for its reintroduction in the current legislative session.

ISAAC STANLEY-BECKER